- A decision by the Boakai administration to roll back Liberia's controversial public-sector salary harmonization policy has triggered a constitutional dispute over whether the executive branch acted within its legal authority.
The clash intensified after Bomi County Sen. Edwin Melvin Snowe formally summoned Finance and Development Planning Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan to appear before the Senate to justify recent salary adjustments that Snowe says were implemented without explicit legislative approval.
Snowe argues that the executive branch lacks unilateral authority to reverse the salary harmonization framework established under the National Remuneration Standardization Act of 2019, warning that the move could erode legislative oversight of public compensation.
"The law remains in force," Snowe wrote in his communication to Senate plenary. "It has not been repealed, amended, or modified, and it does not grant unilateral powers to the executive to reverse salary standardization."
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What the Harmonization Policy Was Designed to Do
The salary harmonization policy was introduced in 2019 as part of a government effort to address severe wage inequality within the public sector. According to an official Government of Liberia pay harmonization fact sheet published on the website of the Finance Ministry, the pre-harmonization pay structure allowed the top 1 percent of public employees to earn about 13.3 percent of the total wage bill, while the bottom 20 percent earned just 4.6 percent, with a median monthly salary of approximately US$125.
Under the harmonized structure, the government aimed to reduce disparities by lowering the share of the wage bill going to the top earners while increasing pay for lower-income workers. The fact sheet shows that the bottom 20 percent's share was projected to rise to 8.1 percent, with median monthly pay increasing to about US$225.
The reform affected 66,538 graded central government employees, including teachers, health workers, security personnel, and presidential appointees. About 85 percent of those employees were protected from any salary reduction, while roughly 10,200 workers, about 15 percent, experienced downward adjustments, largely among higher-earning officials.
Why the Policy Became Politically Toxic
Although the policy boosted pay for thousands of low-income workers, including teachers, police officers, and health care workers, it also led to sharp cuts for senior officials and professionals, fueling backlash that has persisted within the UP-leg government§.
Former Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah, who championed the policy under the Coalition for Democratic Change government, repeatedly defended it as fiscally responsible and warned that reversing it could destabilize public finances.
That warning resurfaced after Ngafuan disclosed on The Class Reloaded, an online talk platform, that the Unity Party-led administration had begun reversing elements of the policy.
Ngafuan has since approved targeted salary increases for employees of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, the General Auditing Commission, and the Judiciary, including judges and Supreme Court justices -- institutions that were among those affected by the earlier downward adjustments.
Snowe: Budget Approval Is Not Enough
Snowe maintains that legislative approval of the national budget does not substitute for formal statutory action amending or repealing the 2019 remuneration law.
While the Legislature authorizes spending through the budget, he argues, altering a legally established compensation framework requires explicit legislative action beyond budget passage.
He warned that allowing salary structures to be reversed through executive discretion alone could set a precedent that weakens legislative authority over public finance.
Executive Allies Push Back
Mohammed Ali, managing director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation, rejected Snowe's interpretation, accusing the senator of political inconsistency.
In a post on his official Facebook page, Ali recalled that Snowe previously criticized the executive for failing to raise civil servants' salaries in the 2026 National Budget.
"Once the Legislature passes the national budget and the President signs it, that budget becomes law," Ali said. "Salary adjustments made within the framework of that approved budget are therefore lawful."
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Ali described the harmonization policy as harmful to morale and argued that Ngafuan's actions represent a gradual and lawful correction rather than a statutory violation. He also suggested that some politicians prefer the issue to remain unresolved for future political leverage.
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Nyakonah: The Law Allows Both Reductions and Increases
Daniel Nyakonah, a consultant at the Ministry of Finance, also disputed Snowe's position, pointing out that the Legislature approved the 2024 and 2025 national budgets, both of which contained salary top-ups for integrity institutions.
Citing Part I, Section I of the National Remuneration Standardization Act of 2019, Nyakonah said the law explicitly authorizes government to "reduce or increase such remuneration to the extent possible."
"The same law used to reduce salaries is now being used to reverse those reductions," Nyakonah said.
He added that judges' salaries were restored to pre-harmonization levels following sustained advocacy by former Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyeneh Yuoh.
